Schutzhaftlagerführer was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the concentration and extermination camps Totenkopfverbande. A Schutzhaftlagerführer was in charge of the economic function of the camp. Usually, there was more than one SS man performing that function at each location due to their enormous size. Schutzhaftlagerführers received orders from the central offices in Berlin, such as DEST run directly by the SS. Prisoners' lives were entirely in their hands. Their orders, which usually involved routine maltreatment of condemned victims, were carried out through "assignments" so they would not have to deal with the dead resulting from them.

From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, including subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe.